Fuji TV produces documentary 'How Pokémon GO changed the world'

Fuji Television announced at the Asian Television Forum & Market held in Singapore its production and broadcast of a documentary program, "How Pokémon GO Changed the World."

The program shows the world frenzy induced by the game Pokémon GO which became a worldwide blockbuster mobile game this year. The program focuses on the new relationship built between people and the latest technology, by covering a boy in North Carolina, recuperating at home from an illness but shows his recovery through a deepened relationship with his family by taking advantage of the mobile terminal technology. The program also details how Pokémon GO benefited the recovery around the area devastated by the Great East Japan Earthquake.

For the first time in the world, Fuji Television was allowed to film the front line of the game development in San Francisco. The camera also goes behind the scenes of the game development by those developers who have a passionate desire to "create opportunities for people to get outside."

Fuji Television producer Jun Hama, in charge of the production, said: “Pokémon GO developer, Mr John Hanke, in his on-camera interview for the first time since the launch of the game, speaks about the purpose of developing Pokémon GO which was to ‘change the world.’ We were greatly impressed by his responses. Pokémon GO made more than 600 million people around the world go outside with a smartphone in hand to enjoy the game. What amazed us while proceeding with the coverage were the scenes where the world was actually changing with this game, such as a socially withdrawn boy who suffered a communication disorder going outside and making friends, a senior citizen living in a nursing home smiling again, and tourists returning to the earthquake disaster area in North Eastern Japan which helped the local economy.

“For the first time, our program gives a preview of the currently ongoing new service development, and introduces the story behind the development of the world's greatest product this year, a creation that would never have been produced without the collaboration of the country who produced Pokémon, the Japanese staff, and the country with the world's best IT technology, the American staff. The show approaches the substantiality and amazingness of Pokémon GO which is ‘changing the world’, exceeding a mere game."

© Japan Today